October 2020

1

Close to each other,
socially undistanced,
the mulberry leaves,

uniformly green,
shall turn brown together.
It’s like a herd dying.

2

Firm to begin with,
the mud clod
could’ve injured you.
It crumbles in your hand.

3

In the heap of  dead
leaves crinkly as
brown skins, those
breathing things
foraging around
the bamboo stand
are  jungle babblers.

4

It...

what would have happened had Achilles stayed
entwined with you, his lover, in your bed, who could feel
a pack of  Trojans through his letterman jacket
but also the well of  the water styx he kept in a flask
as he tried to end...

I can’t undo all I have done unto myself,
what I have let an appetite for love do to me....